Dr. Doug Patten, former chief medical officer for the Georgia Hospital Association, is campus associate dean for the Southwest Campus. Patten guides faculty recruitment efforts, supports students as they complete their clinically intense third and fourth years of medical school and advocates for them as they represent MCG in Southwest Georgia. Patten was integral to the development of the campus, MCG’s first regional campus based in Albany at Phoebe Putney Health System, where he was serving as chief medical officer at the time and where the Southwest Campus offices are still located.
A surgeon by training, Patten has served a variety of roles in health care administration over the last 12 years, including as the head of Phoebe’s graduate medical education efforts and as its senior vice president for medical affairs. In March 2014, he stepped in to lead the hospital’s Sumter Medical Center before assuming his position at the Georgia Hospital Association later that year. At the GHA, he helped support Georgia hospitals that have demonstrated their commitment to improving quality, reducing harm and lowering the cost of care.
Patten is a member of the boards of directors for the Georgia Health Information Network, the Phoebe Foundation and Albany Area Primary Health Care, a multisite and multispecialty federally qualified health center. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives. He earned his medical degree from Louisiana State University in New Orleans, before completing an internship at Orlando Regional Medical Center and a general surgery residency at the University of South Florida. Before joining the Phoebe administration, Patten practiced as a general surgeon in Cordele and Hawkinsville.
Dr. Koosh Desai is a board-certified internal medicine physician practicing hospital-based medicine at Phoebe Putney Hospital in Albany, He also serves as the Assistant Dean for the Medical College of Georgia's Southwest Campus. He's a 2016 graduate of MCG's Southwest Campus and returned to the region to direct MCG's clinical campus and train the next generation of physicians.
Additionally, Dr. Desai has expertise in disease prevention and has obtained numerous grants from the FCC, USDA and CDC to reduce health disparities in rural Georgia. He co-founded a statewide program, which successfully increased colon cancer screening rates at underserved clinics. He utilized his experience to collaborate with partners to form the CDC-funded, Georgia Colorectal Cancer Control Program, in which he serves as a regional Medical Director.
Some of his recent recognitions include: Albany Chamber of Commerce 2021 Under 40 Young Professional of the Year, 2021 Phoebe Inpatient Attending of the Year and Medical College of Georgia’s 2020 Young Alumnus of the Year.
